Feathered Friends SMAP Contest Entry - Four Feathered Friends In Black and White

This is my entry for the Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 93 which is hosted by @nelinoeva! The theme for this round is "Bird/s In Black and White". You can learn more about the contest and how to enter HERE!

If my memory serves me correctly then I'm fairly certain that I took all of the photos in my post today from my window that overlooks the bird feeders and the surrounding area. My post features four feathered friends but I'll be showing five photos beginning and ending with the same Blue Jay above. My second feathered friend is this beautiful Dove. I thought it fitting to show the entire Dove and if that sounds odd then I will refer you back to the last entry that I posted for SMaP!

Just look at this adorable little Black-capped Chickadee! The safflower seeds in the feeder may seem like a big seed for such a small bird but don't let his (or her) size fool you! The little Chickadee's will take a seed out, hold it between their toes and then use their beak like a tiny jackhammer to break the seed open. They are also very fast when they fly down to the bird feeder and make off with a seed. They definitely don't linger around the feeders like the House Sparrows do.

I bet you think that I'm showing a House Sparrow as my fourth feathered friend?! Nope! It is a male Northern Cardinal! A very handsome bird in color and black and white! I've noticed that the male will linger longer at the feeders than the female Northern Cardinal.

The Blue Jays don't care for the safflower seeds but they will still come by to check out the feeders or search for berries or bugs in the trees. I've started to occasionally put a bird seed mix in the feeders but guess what else that brought to the feeders? Squirrels .. and they like to really empty them out. I'm back to just safflower and thistle seed again but I've also been putting a little mix seed and fruit in a little cup on the fence for the squirrels. The Blue Jays haven't caught on to that yet but I guess they still have plenty of berries and bugs to satisfy them for now. Here is my fifth and final feathered friend (notice all of those "F" words) photo which is the same Blue Jay pictured in my entry photo above. Hope you enjoyed seeing my collection of four feathered friends in black and white! 💖

All photos and text by me @deerjay. All rights reserved.